Taking a Pickleball Break

What’s up, guys? I’M BACK. Missed talking to you guys. Finally back from my work break and I’m excited to get back to it. Tons of updates below for you guys.

Hope you’ve all been well!

I’m back from break!

Note, this part of the post is largely personal and mixed in with a few Pickleball stories. You can skip ahead if my personal life is boring to you. 😂

I took the entire month off of work from January.

I haven’t had a true vacation in 4 years (my honeymoon). I’ve been self employed my entire career, so if I wasn’t actively working or looking for work, it meant no money was coming in.

When I started the Pickleball Studio I hit the ground running fast. The last 2 years of the channels existence has been 60-70 hour work weeks with virtually no breaks (Including minimal to no time off on weekends).

Don’t get me wrong, I chose to do that and I’ve LOVED it. But around October of last year I realized I was spinning the wheels too fast for too long. It felt overwhelming trying to keep up with every paddle release, podcast, newsletter, practice, paddle testing, new content ideas, travel, etc.

So, I decided to try something extremely foreign to me which was taking an entire month off of work. You might think that sounds amazing, but it was terrifying to convince myself that was a good idea.

What if people stop caring about my content? What if a huge new paddle comes out and I miss it? What if there’s big news and we can’t talk about it on the podcast? I had probably a dozen “what ifs” that made me wonder if it was the right move.

Eventually I realized if I didn’t do this I was going to completely burnout (which is what happened in my previous filmmaking career)

I’m really glad I took this break, because I learned a lot.

First, it was great for my Pickleball game. Because I am producing so much content about paddles, I rarely get to prioritize my own game for improvement. This was a big source of frustration for me last year. So, in January I made a big priority to drill and focus on my game.

I even took a lesson to clean up one of my weaker areas and it was truly a game changer. I’m going to make a video about this at some point because I can’t believe how helpful this single one hour lesson was.

Second, taking a break was so good for my creativity and mental capacity. When you put in the amount of hours I did last year, your brain never gets time to rest and come up with new ways of doing things.

Third, I went to Hawaii for a true vacation. I went to Maui and played in a local tournament.

This part was amazing. One, I got to meet a lot of local PB players and all of them were such nice and fun people. I appreciate everyone who said hi and played games with me.

Originally I was only going to play singles, but an HOUR before doubles start time one of the locals texted me and asked if I could play with his friend in 4.5 because his partner was injured.

Naturally I had to say yes. We ended up going undefeated the entire day and took home the gold! Not bad for a blind date an hour before start. My partner Mike was awesome to play with. He had great energy all day and that’s exactly what I want from my partners. No eye rolling, no ego, open to new ideas, etc. more people need to be like Mike.

I also managed to take home gold in 4.5 singles. The gold medal match was one of my most memorable tournament matches to date. I won in 3 with a score line of 11-9, 7-11, 14-12.

14-12 in the third is a massive nail biter. Even crazier when I tell you that I was down 5-10! No idea how I managed to pull that one off, but it was extremely rewarding to win. My opponent Ethan played great and was very fun to chat with afterward.

This tournament and the locals really reminded me why I love Pickleball.

It’s the people. I love traveling and seeing the local PB scene, meeting people who watch the channel, and getting to laugh on court with everyone. This will serve as a big reminder for me in 2024 about new things I want to prioritize in my content.

Lastly, I want to mention how blessed I feel. All of you who watch the channel, comment, say hi at tournaments, listen to the podcasts, read this newsletter, I am truly thankful for you.

This has become my dream job and I realize how WILDLY fortunate I am to be able to take a month off work. Heck, I’m thankful to even call Pickleball my job PERIOD. I do not take ANY of it for granted. In fact, I frequently wonder what I did to deserve any of this.

I don’t think there’s a way for me to express how much I appreciate all of you and how happy it makes me to be doing this.

Before we wrap this section up I want to leave you with how you could apply breaks to your Pickleball game.

If you’re feeling burnout, frustrated by your game play or lack of improvement, TAKE A BREAK.

I think breaks are hard for a lot of people for the same reasons I experienced. What if my friends move into groups without me? If I take time off, my improvement is even SLOWER, what if, what if, what if…

But if you’re tired and stagnating, taking a break can help you reset mentally and come back better than you did before, or with a more clear mind of what you need to do to level up.

Take it from someone who has hustled his entire working career (10+ years), you can’t do it forever, breaks are normal, recommended, and should be required.

Small breaks will be something I focus on much more in my Pickleball game and work career moving forward.

You don’t have to take a month off, but adding small breaks that force you to reset will be useful. An added benefit of taking a break is it makes you want it even more when you come back.

A great quote that I think applies to working careers and Pickleball is “People overestimate what they can do in a year and vastly underestimate what they can do in 5 years”.

Zooming out and looking at the big picture is a help reminder to me.

Paddles I am testing

11six24 Hurache-X

Specs:

• Price: $139.99 (PBSTUDIO will save 10%)

• Shape: Elongated

• Handle length: 6 inches (similar if not identical to paddles like the CRBN1X length)

• Core: 16mm

• Swing weight: 118

• Twist weight: 6.3

• Face materials: Raw carbon fiber with a layer of fiberglass beneath

• Thermoformed

I ignored most paddles while I was on my break, but there were two that I happened to try and really enjoyed and plan to do reviews on soon.

The 11six24 Hurache-X is what I used for both singles and doubles at the Hawaii tournament to win gold. So, you can imagine that I really like this paddle. The best way I can summarize it quickly is that it plays like a Six Zero Double Black Diamond that’s elongated with a 6” handle and more power.

It has a layer of fiberglass between the carbon fiber that makes it more poppy than a normal raw carbon fiber paddle. It was probably one of the easiest transitions I’ve ever had from my DBD. The added power over the DBD is a nice addition.

So, if you always wanted a DBD with a much longer handle and more power, this is something to consider.

It’s not a game changing paddle, but it feels a nice niche and is really enjoyable to use. Price is very reasonable as well.

You can check it out here

Volair Forza Mach 2

Specs:

• Price: $179.99 (Code PBSTUDIO will save 10%)

• Shape: Standard

• Handle length: 5.5”

• Core: 16mm & 14mm

• Swing weight:

  • 16mm: 110

  • 14mm: 106

• Twist weight: 

  • 16mm: 7.22

  • 14mm: 6.82

• Face materials: Raw carbon fiber

• Thermoformed

The second paddle is the Volair Forza Mach 2. Traditionally I’ve not loved wide body paddles, but I think that’s usually because wide body paddles have such short handles. The Forza Mach 2 has a 5.5” handle like the Scorpeus from Joola.

After using this paddle, I think that wide body paddles could (and maybe should?) be more popular than they are.

Wide body paddles have several things that I think make them appealing to the masses. Because they are wider, they have high twist weights. The Forza Mach 2 is over 7 stock. Which frequently translates to a more stable feeling paddle with a good sweet spot (since you have more width). On top of that, these paddles have low swing weights which make them fast in the hand.

Hand speed and sweet spot are some of the most important things for amateur players. I think that for most players, having half an inch less in the head to have faster hands and a larger sweet spot is more beneficial than the slightly extra reach.

Of course, it’s different for everyone, but for most players I think those things are more important than a small amount of reach. Maybe we’ll see wide body paddles become more popular this year.

During my break I found the Forza Mach 2 to be a lot of fun to play with. It gets top tier spin (currently highest in my spreadsheet) and blocks felt fantastic. I was expecting to be annoyed by the lack of reach, but within a few sessions I stopped caring and moved my feet more (like we should all be doing anyways haha).

While the Forza Mach 2 isn’t earth shattering tech like the Gearbox, I think it has a lot of attributes that matter more to players than just having raw power.

You can check it out here

🎙️ Latest podcast

On this weeks podcast we had a bunch of topics to discuss (props to any of you that make it to the kitchen this week!). We talk about my trip to Hawaii, Will’s trip to Taiwan, the new Vulcan ball, a variety of paddles, like the CoreTek with a foam filled core, our goals, and more. You can check it out here.